Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Billion Lies

People
working round the year usually take a break or a vacation sometime or the
other. They hope to forget the heat and the problems back home and at work and
spend time away from all of it. Some come back rejuvenated and raring to get
back to work, some come back to the same problems they left behind. Nothing
changes. Our media friends had a two-week vacation from their regular jobs and
had a great time gorging on the beast called IPL. The IPL match-fixing scam worked as a trigger for a vacation
from all other news items except for a couple of incidents and disasters. The BCCI is holding an emergency meeting
today to deal with the case of N.
Srinivasan who will be likely ousted from his position of president. The
vacation may end but the billion lies of our media will return to other
stories. This is just to record some bizarre coverage of the IPL scam.

At times
like these the behaviour of the poor frontline reporters and cameramen turns
absolutely insane. They behave like orphaned mongrels fighting over crumbs of
food that someone just threw at the garbage dump in the street corner. The
uncouth and uncivilised behaviour of these reporters during the arrest of Vindoo Dara Singh and Gurunath Meiyappan suggests they need
training on civility first than in reporting. The image says it all. This
happens every time the police arrest someone in a sensational case. The
reporters hounded Vindoo right into the van in which he was taken away and
jumped on Gurunath like a pack of dogs fighting for the leftovers. The siege of
Gurunath was so bad that the police could take him from the vehicle to the
Crime Branch office only after a serious struggle.

The players
mostly remained silent throughout the vacation. The Indian team captain MS
Dhoni refused to answer any questions about the IPL scam during his recent
pressers. I believe he was right in remaining silent as he is not obligated to
feed the media with the titbits they seek. And then Sachin Tendulkar spoke out stating he was “shocked and disappointed” at the events and that he was “hurt”. I wonder if any citizen would
say anything different about the IPL scam. But for the media folks the
interpretation was different. The small statements of SachinT was used to add
more fuel to the campaign and Rajdeep
Sardesai was the first get on TV and proclaim SachinT had “taken a stand”. What stand did Sachin
take? This is how Rajdeep fools people. A mere statement about being hurt or
disappointed is a statement any citizen would make but a call for some specific
action would be a “stand”. Sachin called for nothing and now that he’s also an
MP he throws crumbs that the salivating media gobbles as a major statement.
Numero Uno’s vacation!

The more
sensible and balanced statements weren’t coming from the media but from
prominent citizens with a conscience. Shekhar
Kapur rightly states less than 1% of our population follows cricket
religiously yet the media makes you believe Srinivasan’s resignation will solve
some major problems. Sucheta Dalal
makes an even stronger point. How many of these same media celebs would talk
about media houses and owners who are routinely entrenched in misdeeds and
scams as is the BCCI. A day or two would have made some sense but the two-week
long (and still continuing) campaign of the media against Srinivasan and the
IPL scam looks like a conspiracy and a scam by itself. Naturally, where there’s
a scam politicians can’t be far behind. None of the media celebs sought an
investigation into the Radiagate
scandal. Records suggest that Arun Jaitley, who is dabbling heavily in the BCCI
affairs to set things right, was actually approached to protect a culprit in
the Radiagate episode.

Then there
are moments of comedy in every campaign the media undertakes that come as a
relief and provide a good laugh. Nobody… Nobody does it better than the duo of
Editor and Deputy Editor of CNN-IBN.
The Editor is constantly striving for “integrity
and credibility” which seems to elude him at every corner and the Deputy is
constantly striving to surpass her Social Genius score. The “Numero Uno” guy hopes the BCCI and
Srinivasan problems will get sorted out and his vacation can end and he can get
back to his regular problems. The “Numero
Unee” laments they didn’t tell us how many times Mahendra Karma was stabbed
during the Chattisgarh naxal attack and media is crying over IPL. She does have
a point. But the problem is “Numero Unee” and “Numero Uno” are as helpless as
any other media celeb when a campaign is being dictated by political forces. They
too were on vacation.

An article
in The Telegraph clearly
indicates that the whole campaign against Srinivasan and BCCI was driven by the
Congress party and Sharad Pawar. Naturally! There are few
tainted Congress members in Indian Cricket management. Rajiv Shukla represents the real power-mongering journalist who
became an MP and then a BCCI bigshot. There is no reason to believe the
Barkhas, Rajdeeps, Arnabs and Sagarikas are any different from Shukla. They are
all Rajiv Shuklas still haunting the media. For over 15 days the Congress
successfully managed to throw bigger crumbs to the media with the Bharat Nirman
ads and kept them focused on the IPL scam. In the last 15 days I bet you wouldn’t
have seen too many politicians or political spokies on your TV screen. They had a vacation too.

In every
malicious, hate-filled campaign that the media carries out there is always
someone who trumps everyone else with his sheer nonsense. And this time too, it
was Arnab Goswami all the way. The man has truly become the symbol of the
terrible disease that has inflicted our news media. First he spreads the canard
of a billion people being cheated. This is an outright lie that he knowingly
peddles for sensationalism. Only morons who constantly sit in a studio utter
such crap. Shekhar Kapur rightly points out how many people really care about
Cricket. Even if Kapur has just made a guesstimate I can tell you that in most
places in India people still don’t know the IPL or BCCI.

There are many places in this vast country where people don’t watch
anything let alone Cricket and they form a huge majority. And then Arnab
follows it up with “Crusade for Cricket”.
This guy probably believes he’s the Grand Mufti of TV and propriety but
actually represents the worst in TV journalism. Calling it “cheating a billion”
is the way that Arnab and TimesNow regularly cheat a billion people from real
news and facts. It is a practice with Arnab to fool people with fake headlines
and excessive screaming. I truly pity the reporters like Navika, Bhavtosh and
others who work under him. They must feel like idiots having to work under someone
who acts more like a circus joker.

The awful
truth is that some cricketers and bookies may have cheated but they haven’t stolen
your money. They have cheated your faith in the game but not your money. I
believe the UPA which has not only cheated your faith but also cheated you of
your own money is a far more serious issue than IPL betting and fixing. But the
media can be silenced with a fair share of crumbs as we have come to learn. Now
that this IPL campaign of a billion lies is nearing its end the media celebs
will return to their regular job. They will return to “Hunting season” which is another way of protecting the
Congress. And in doing so they will
manufacture another billion lies right up to election season.

27 comments
:

i have actually committed the sacrilege of switching away from arnab and times now during primetime hours lately and watching some other channels where some important issue are being discussed. hubris always results in a resounding fall. a pity really.... yes, for those who want to see the fixing tapes of 2000 , they have recently been uploaded under - fallen heroes - on you tube.not surprising or shocking.

Rightly said, "The awful truth is that some cricketers and bookies may have cheated but they haven’t stolen your money. They have cheated your faith in the game but not your money".

I have stopped watching these stupid NDTV, CNN/IBN (call it as RSN/SGN), HT but for Times Now. But this IPL coverage has made me to keep off from all these news channels for the past two weeks, nauseating. I sincerely appreciate you Ravinar! One must have infinite level of patience to watch these stupidity in the name of news and to observe and comment on it takes a lot of pain. Hats Off to you!

Arnab has gone overboard and has hurt the nation by taking attention away fro important issues. In the process he has helped a lot of viewers break from the addiction of watching newshour. Irrelevance is what his show is heading towards

So true. You won't believe, I have stopped watching MSM for a year now. I tend to watch BBC or CNN for any important news in respect of our country. I want you to take up these issues and write about it. The issues are: 1) whether MSM owes a responsibility to reveal their income and it source to the People of India and 2) Should MSM advertise any adds of the nature of BN, whether paid or unpaid, as it, I feel atleast, is a conflict of interest. You should not accept any money from the government however legal it is.

Indian television channels (esp. news ones) are extremely distressing to watch. Some of my wonders include - (a)Why a television reporter has to shout at the top of his pitch, to convey his story (b)Why do they hound their interviewees like the way Arnab Goswami does ? (c) They often keen stirring the same story, with no real news to report - it appears as a sort of a elocution competition, the more one talks, the more his/her chances of winning !! At best, these things only portray the rudeness that's a part of life in India, with no concern for their customers (viewers)

The channels need to learn a lesson or two, from international channels, on how reporting is conducted.

In these last 4-5 days, have seriously wished for some actual news at around 8.30-9pm slots, the time I have dinner and which is the News time followed by Serials for my mom starting at 10 pm.

Honestly, could not find anything worthwhile apart from the IPL drama. I never liked IPL but like cricket a lot, but this is too much.

Harpal Singh Gill, a sports journalist summed it up very nicely on NDTV Hindi. He said media is going after BCCI IPL for glamour, money, and said that Kabbadi federation head, relinquished his post only for his wife to takeover and yet there was no news since it was also impropriety. He then further taunted Sikta Dev that you cannot ask a question which NDTV management doesnt want. Sikta could only manage a very feeble "we can do it at NDTV."

The IPL story in a sense sums all that is wrong with our media- (i)orchestrated hounding of a target, (ii)launching a malicious campaign, (iii)trial and verdict by media, (iv)no trace of investigative journalism (after all if Srinivasan has decided to brazen it out, he clearly knows the "secrets" of others like Rajeev Shukla in the BCCI- how about asking why other BCCI members don't have the guts to show Srini the door) (v)overkill with the same news for weeks, and(vi)claim of exclusivity to every paid news

Super Ravi!!!! Ian really surprised that these idiotic set of clowns have not changed their ways even after year or so during which I have rejected them completely!!!!!!, Srinivasan has delivered a knock-out for these chamcha of congress and the day is not too far when the ruling party will seek Srinivasan's advice for running the party to withstand the opposition onslaught!!!!!,

1. IPL had TRP rating of 4. So its pretty high for a television programme. Naturally for people who watch it for 2 months, fixing in IPL is a big news. Just becuz we have a scam ridden Congress party rule does not mean other crimes should go unreported.

2. We like it or not, Cricket is the most followed sports in India. People who follow it, expect it to be clean of betting and fixing. For that matter they watch the news surrounding it. Nothing wrong it.

3. Media hounding Meiyappan and Dara Singh - Have you visited any civil or criminal court? Almost all courts in India, are so crowded, you feel as you are in cattle class environment. Let the accused Meiyappan and Dara Singh enjoy that atmosphere whats wrong in it. Even 2G scam people went through the same settings. At that you did not feel about the human rights of those people.

4. Betting and Fixing brought one thing out that Gujarati Businessmen are the worst fraud Businessmen in India. Almost all betting and fixing road leads to Gujarat. For that reason even the 'clean' Narendra Modi who is leading GCA and part of BCCI has not opened his mouth against the fixing scandal and the fraud Srinivasan. Shame on him.

5. One of the prime accused is seen in the company of Dhoni wife through out the IPL tournament, Dhoni's team owner is accused of betting and fixing, CSK match against MI and SPW are said to be fixed, yet so called India team captain wants to keep his mouth shut. Coward. What difference he has with MMS. Acting clean when all his ministers get caught in scam around him. Can't he even say I played fair and my team played fair? There are huge recorded conversations taped by POlice but will it come out like 2G?

Only advantage for Dhoni and Srinivasan, no investigation in India ever brought punishment to the criminal.

6. Chattisgarh fighting - Public felt more sorry for the security guard who died bravely in fight. If anyone thinks, common man who is swindled by politicians and administrators even feels sorry for the killed politicians should be naive.

One thing which Arnab Goswami started and increasingly all other media anchors have begun copying is this....

He comes to the studio with a certain topic. But instead of first debating on the topic with all points of view and then arriving at an opinion or conclusion, he starts with a conclusion!

After that, he lines up a large panel of speakers - usually 5 against 1 - 5 in favour of his conclusion and 1 against.

Then he starts yelling at the hapless panelist who has an opinion different from the one that Arnab has concluded! Before he can complete his full point, he goes hammering his question, passes judgements, etc etc.

To add to the confusion, he sits in Mumbai and most panelists are in Delhi or other places. This makes it necessary for them to join through video conference. This creates a audio time lag - i.e. by the time the panelist has heard the full question and is preparing his thoughts, Arnab has already lost his patience and starts reinforcing his point.

In the meantime, the panelist has started speaking, but he finds himself interrupted by Arnab. Then once again before he can hear the complete question due to the time lag, Arnab again gets impatient and yells again.

To the layman viewer, it gives the impression that the panelist has been stumped by the question and is at a loss for words!!!

My friend tells me that CNN stands for Concocted Nasty News channel and NDTV means Noisy Dirty TV.I fully agreed and told him Times Now has become Worst Times Now. Seeing our converation another colleague of mine said UPA means United Plundering Agents.I added that it can also mean Unlimited Pluderer's Academy. My collegue agreed but had his own version . He also says that the present UPA is Unique Plundering Agents for their boss and in that they are Ultimate Plundering Agents. Can anybody with some common sense disagree?

IBN channel is very similar to their counterpart CNN in USA. They invent the "critical" news by repeated, unusual, sensational and obsessed coverage of a trivial or foolish news to cover up the Sonia Gandhi Congress scams and Narendra's Modi's popularity.

CNN in US was so obsessed with the death of a porn star Anna Nicloe Smith, that all comedy shows made fun of CNN as a tabloid news channel. After such pathetic journalism, almost nobody watches CNN. Same with IBN choosing IPL match fixing as a major and sensational news. What IBN didn't realize that it lost many of its viewers to other news channels, alternative news and social media.

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